Boris Johnson, the incoming Mayor of London, today pledged to work for all communities and to unite the city in his new role.
Mr Johnson, who will officially take office at midnight tonight, had his first official engagement today with a visit to a cultural event in Trafalgar Square marking the Sikh festival of Vaisakhi.
He dismissed the suggestion made during the election campaign that he would not support events such as this as "a canard floated by the outgoing Mayor".
The Mayor-elect, who beat Labour's two-term incumbent Ken Livingstone, said he had demanded tough action on crime in the city during his meeting yesterday with Metropolitan Police Commissioner Sir Ian Blair.
"I made it very clear that I want to see a dramatic reduction in crime, beginning with driving out so-called minor crime, particularly in the areas for which the Mayor has responsibility, and above all on public transport," he said.
Dozens of well-wishers thronged to meet Mr Johnson as he toured the stalls today, congratulating him and posing for photographs.
"The last few days have been very, very exciting and very, very exhausting, but this is the single most wonderful job in British politics," he said.
"It's a fantastic chance to give a voice to London and unite London.
"I am going to be a Mayor for all London and work to unite communities. One of the wonderful things we have got in London is fantastic diversity — we have got the whole world in a city."
Reiterating the words he said yesterday when he signed the declaration of acceptance, Mr Johnson said that violence among young people was the single biggest problem facing the city.
Just hours earlier, 15-year-old Lyle Tulloch was stabbed to death in a block of flats in Southwark.
He was the 12th teenager to be murdered in the capital this year.
PA